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The region is part of the Ring of Fire: the subduction of the Pacific and Farallon Plates under the North American Plate is responsible for many of the area's scenic features as well as some of its hazards, such as volcanoes, earthquakes, and landslides. The geology of the Pacific Northwest is vast and complex.
Geology of Washington (state) (7 C, 37 P) Pages in category "Geology of the Pacific Northwest" This category contains only the following page.
The range is near the Pacific Ocean and in the region's prevailing westerly winds, so it receives significant rain and snowfall, especially on the western slopes due to orographic lift, with annual snow accumulations of up to 1,000 inches (2,500 cm) (= 83 feet (25 m)) in some areas.
The Pacific Northwest is a diverse geographic region, dominated by several mountain ranges, including the Coast Mountains, the Cascade Range, the Olympic Mountains, the Columbia Mountains, and the Rocky Mountains. The highest peak in the Pacific Northwest is Mount Rainier, in the Washington Cascades, at 14,410 feet (4,392 m).
Geologists and civil engineers have broadly determined that the Pacific Northwest region is not well prepared for such a colossal earthquake. The earthquake is expected to be similar to the 2011 TÅhoku earthquake and tsunami, because the rupture is expected to be as long as the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.
The Intermontane Belt is a physiogeological region in the Pacific Northwest of North America, stretching from northern Washington into British Columbia, Yukon, and Alaska. It comprises rolling hills, high plateaus and deeply cut valleys. The rocks in the belt have very little similarities with the North American continent.
The Blue Mountains are a mountain range in the northwestern United States, located largely in northeastern Oregon and stretching into extreme southeastern Washington.The range has an area of about 15,000 square miles (39,000 km 2), stretching east and southeast of Pendleton, Oregon, to the Snake River along the Oregon–Idaho border.
This is a 680-mile (1,090 km) long fault, running 50 miles (80 km) off the coast of the Pacific Northwest from northern California to Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The plates move at a relative rate of over 0.4 inches (10 mm) per year at a somewhat oblique angle to the subduction zone.